Hellingen launch preceded by ride on local cobbled climbs, then Gent-Wevelgem on TV afterwards

Hellingen Polocini book luanch

Simon Warren, author of 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs and sequel Another 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs, has looked abroad – specifically, Belgium – for his latest work, Hellingen, which will be launched this Sunday at the Polocini Coffee Shop at Romiley, Cheshire. What’s more, the launch will be preceded by a ride hosted by Polocini that takes in some of the area’s cobbled climbs.

The 32-mile ride will head off from the Polocini Coffee Shop at 9.30am and takes in local climbs such as Swiss Hill and Beeston Brow, and afterwards, from 12.15 Warren will be signing copies of his book, covering 50 climbs including many made famous by races such as the Tour of Flanders and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

The Belgian theme will continue with Gent-Wevelgem being screened, with frites and mayonnaise on offer, while “Mrs Polocini will be serving her world famous Rijsttaart.”

Polocini’s own support motorbike will go out on the route of the ride in the morning to put arrow markers at junctions, enabling riders to go at their own pace, though the company, which organises several sportives among other activities, points out this is an informal ride, rather than a sportive.

Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.

2 comments

Cheshire Cat has been postponed so hopefully will be a good turnout. Was at cafe on Wednesday and we were saying it would be a good place to watch a classic.
Try the Philippe Gilbert rainbow striped cake!